Dev leaves job and home to code in the woods

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A Swedish developer has quit his job and left his home to start a new life in the woods where he plans to launch a new start-up.

Armed with just his laptop, batteries powered by solar panels, a tent, a stove and his car, Thomas Backlund moved to the forest in May so he could concentrate on his start-up project full-time.

But despite having no job and no money, Backlund said he would not go back to a normal life until his project had taken off.

He is currently working on a project called blockie.io, a platform for coders to build back-end services quickly by combing blocks of functionality and connecting them together using a visual interface. He hopes this will allow people to create tailored back-ends without any specific programming skills.

“I'm a developer. I moved to a tent into the forest to be able to code on my start-up project full time,” said Backlund in a post on Listserve.

“Not only does that give me the time to do this but it also gives me peace of mind. I change my location about two times a week.

“Computer, forest, batteries...? Unpractical? Maybe it would have been more rational to keep the apartment and just cut costs? Well, rational and right do not always align.

“I have no apartment, I have no job and I have no income. Still I'm exactly where I should be. I'm on my path. My gut feeling lets me know that.

“I'm not exiting to a normal life until my start-up has taken off. This is my big adventure. I'm not coming back empty handed.”